Social technologies have taken the consumer market by storm. Users acknowledge the value of fast, convenient, media-rich and context-aware access to remote friends, family, and business associates. As consumers become increasingly familiar with social software and aware of its various benefits, they demand access to similar tools at their workplace. This study explores the value proposition of integrating social tools with the existing unified communications and collaboration (UCC) infrastructure. Furthermore, this study provides an analysis of Cisco, IBM, and Microsoft’s social tools and strategies and the integration of these tools with the vendors’ UCC platforms and solutions.

Social technologies have taken the consumer market by storm. Users acknowledge the value of fast, convenient, media-rich and context-aware access to remote friends, family, and business associates. As consumers become increasingly familiar with social software and aware of its various benefits, they demand access to similar tools at their workplace. This study explores the value proposition of integrating social tools with the existing unified communications and collaboration (UCC) infrastructure. Furthermore, this study provides an analysis of Cisco, IBM, and Microsoft’s social tools and strategies and the integration of these tools with the vendors’ UCC platforms and solutions. Read Less